Custom American Education essay paper sample

Introduction

Education has for a long time been mistaken to mean going institutions of learning and achieving grades based on some preset criteria. The most educated people are the ones who achieve the best grades as set in the curricula but this is slowly lacking ground. The American education system has especially received some criticism for some reasons which make it not the ideal education system as it would be thought to be. This has been noted through comparison to various other systems which are applied in other countries. It is not possible to draw a clear-cut line on who is to blame for the lowly education status in America considering there are a number of subjects behind this.

One reason as to why American education is slowly losing its grip as a top system is the fact that most American students are getting more time for entertainment than they actually should. The senator for Iowa, Tom Harkins stated that the students are “over-entertained and distracted” which is a main reason underlying the deteriorating quality of education in America (Rhee 12). The system allows for so much time for leisure and while this is important, the senior citizens have introduced the children into lifestyles that show more value for entertainment than for education. Therefore the children grow up wanting to maximize their entertainment and giving less attention to education.

It is also noticeable that unlike other countries competing America in having the best education, the teachers for American schools lack some basic qualities that would help them give the best education (Dillon 16). The kind of training the teachers receive is more exam-oriented than the focus on applicability of the education. Unlike Korean system which has helped in economic recovery for the country, the American system only gives the students certification which they can barely apply in real life situations.

There is also a decentralized system which has allowed for setting of curricula for the different states. This makes it difficult in creating a competitive atmosphere in the schools. Competition is one of the best ways of ensuring that the students and the teachers give the best to the education and that way there will be more benefits from the competition (Sherry 23). Although America is arguably a populous nation, other countries which are ahead of America in their education systems such as Canada are using centralized systems for formulation of curricula and it giving them a desirable outcome. The local schools can be allowed to deviate controllably from the standardized system but the curriculum should allow for an overall comparison which would promote competition among the different schools and states.

Conclusion

American education system would be expected to give the best education to its citizens considering the massive resources that could be deployed to give the best result. There is not one single factor mentioned above that can be used to correct this deficiency but a combination of the factors would give the best results for the nation. There should be appropriate training for the teachers which should shift their mode of teaching from teaching for the exams to a more applicable approach which is what the nation requires. The parents and other senior citizens should also guide the students to shift their attention more towards education and not entertainment. The education system should also adopt a centralized administration and formulation of curriculum as this will also promote competition and will be useful in making the necessary remedies. With this combination, there will be no one to blame specifically and the outcome will be reflected in an overall better performance in education.